Contents

Overview

Roles:

Tank destroyer

Armoured assault gun

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The Rhino MGS is the latest wheeled tank destroyer in NATO armored forces, designed for easy transportation to crisis regions. Its lightweight 120mm main cannon can use all conventional rounds including MARUK ATGMs, which increase its effective range to 8 km. The vehicle's secondary weapon is the .338 magnum SPMG coaxial machinegun. The price paid for the Rhino's great mobility and firepower is its light armor and low supplies of ammo and fuel.

Design

Armament
It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon and a coaxial .338 medium machine gun. The commander also has access to a laser designator that can mark targets independently from the main gun.

The standard loadout of the Rhino gives it 12 rounds of armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS-T), 8 high-explosive (HE-T), and 8 high-explosive anti-tank multi-purpose (HEAT-MP-T) shells for the main gun.

On the other hand, the coaxial SPMG feeds from a 200-round belt box, and has a further 3 belt boxes spare. It also has four MARUK laser-guided anti-tank missiles which are launched directly from the main cannon.

Features
A modern take on the tank destroyer concept, the Rhino represents the latest in NATO's mounted combat systems. It essentially combines the best of two AFV platforms: the high mobility and speed of the AMV-7 Marshall Infantry Fighting Vehicle, and the firepower of the M2A1 Slammer/M2A4 Slammer UP Main Battle Tanks.

Mobility
Like the Marshall, it is a wheeled 8x8 AFV but sacrifices troop transport and amphibious capabilities for greater firepower and increased armour plating. Compared to the Slammer family, the Rhino is also armed with a 120 mm cannon that can fire both anti-vehicle and anti-personnel munitions. But unlike the Slammer, the Rhino has overall better mobility since it's a wheeled vehicle as opposed to being tracked, and has less difficulty when travelling over rugged terrain or climbing up hills.

The Rhino's MARUK missile/data link combo in action.Note the MARUK being launched and adjusting its own flight trajectory automatically (top) and hitting a non-line-of-sight target (bottom) moments later.

Notable Traits
However, the most notable feature of the Rhino lies in its ability to link up with other sensor-equipped platforms. For instance, the commander and gunner can connect with other data link-capable vehicles like the IFV-6a Cheetah to obtain the location of enemy targets.

A prime example of this capability in action is using the Rhino's MARUK laser-guided missiles in-conjunction with an AR-2 Darter SUAV. The Darter can mark a target from afar while the Rhino's gunner locks onto the laser spot via data link. With this setup, the Rhino can attack almost any kind of ground target (even moving ones) at an impressive distance of up to 8,000 metres.

To top it all off, the Rhino's crew can engage these targets even if it is not within the gunner's line-of-sight. And with the entire process being handled via data link, there is almost no chance of the missile missing unless the target notices in time and takes cover before the missile impacts.

Drawbacks
Though the Rhino is highly versatile due in large part to this capability, it's still very much just an up-gunned IFV. It will be easily taken out in direct combat against other MBTs, with even heavy IFVs like the BTR-K Kamysh being capable of destroying the Rhino with their ATGMs or sustained autocannon fire. Therefore it relies more on speed and positioning to outrange its foes, and shouldn't be used to tackle them head on.

Crew Capacity
The Rhino has enough seats for a crew of three that consists of the driver, a gunner, and the commander. It cannot transport any passengers.

Sensors

The Rhino is outfitted with only one passive-type sensor:

Data Link

The Rhino is data link-enabled, and can obtain the locations of enemy contacts from any friendly forces within 16 km range.

Note that the Rhino can receive the location of spotted contacts from other vehicles but cannot actually transmit targets that it sees. It is also unable to distinguish between friendly and hostile contacts.

Components

Slat Cage (Hull): Attaches slat cages around the entire hull aside from the turret. Slat cages will protect the Rhino from non-AP munitions but can be destroyed after multiple hits.

Camo Net (Hull): Drapes most of the hull with camouflage netting (except for the crew hatches). Partially conceals covered sections from thermal sensors.

Camo Net (Turret): Identical to the Hull camouflage netting, but for the turret instead. Most of the turret (including the barrel) is covered, though certain components like the commander's optic are left exposed.

Trivia

The chassis and overall configuration of the Rhino is based on the real-world "Rooikat" AFV designed by South Africa-based vehicle manufacturer Land Systems OMC. The turret on the other hand, is based on an experimental, autoloader-equipped design for the real Rooikat.

The Rhino's role and configuration is also very similar to the real-world "M1128 Stryker MGS" armoured assault gun vehicle designed by General Dynamics Land Systems.

Its autoloader-equipped turret and armament loadout is almost identical to that of the Medium Caliber Anti-Armor Automatic Cannon (MCAAAC) developed by Ares Inc. that is used on real MGS Strykers.